Identity and Access management have come into prominence over the past few years. The main reason for this is hybrid and remote work models. Organizations have become more reliant on cloud applications, resources, and online platforms. This fact forces them to take new and comprehensive precautions to avoid data leakage or security bugs.

It is crucial for companies to protect their network from being attacked or to be robbed. Although many companies consider only outside threats and construct a security wall that only protects company resources from outside threats, inside users also pose a risk to companies’ online safety. A reliable protection method should offer both inside and outside safety. When we talk about inside threats, we mention the fact that employees can cause a disaster in an organization. Even the most known and qualified company employees can make a mistake and endanger company resources.

Main Benefits of IAM in Companies

The best thing that organizations can do is to create a comprehensive and effective Identity and Access Management infrastructure and provide compliance for the whole company. The main role of IAM is to keep company data, resources, applications, and network safe by verifying user identities and giving them the access authorization they need. Here, it is vital to understand and imply neither a more nor less access permission mentality. Thus, corporations can prevent over and unnecessary access to the network. At the same time, they do not need to compromise on productivity. When employees can access the adequate resources they need at an optimal speed, they can increase their productivity and business quality.

Wide Monitoring

With the help of IAM, managers can monitor user attempts and see who is inside the network. Even if controlling access permissions is not easy work to do, brand-new security solutions enable companies to control and observe access authorizations. So we can see the importance of digital transformation in companies. The more corporations start to use digital security tools properly, the less they fall victim to cyber threats. We wanted to emphasize proper use because digital tools can accelerate the risk if they are used wrongly.

Access Control

Corporations can decide on who can access which resources and when with the help of Identity and Access Management.  If IT specialists and other managers benefit from the IAM service effectively, they can create a fully trusted environment for their businesses.

When it comes to IAM, you should understand two things fundamentally: Access controlling and identity verification. On the one hand, access control enables companies to observe who attempts to reach which resource and what are their potential threats. On the other hand, identity verification solutions allow companies to be sure that only authenticated users, consumers, or business partners can access vulnerable company data or resources. Both of them create a strong and multi-layered protection architecture in a corporation. IAM also allows corporations to determine access control and decide on permission levels.

Role of HR in IAM

HR is the starting point of Identity and Access Management because HR is the first place where all employees give important data and information about themselves. Furthermore, there is no such department in an organization that knows job descriptions, needed resources, and other business elements than HR.

We mentioned how vital identity verification and access control are above. The access permission should neither broad nor strict. If a corporation gives extensive permissions to its employees it compromises the company’s online safety.  It’s most likely that the company will fall victim to any threat or attack. On the other hand, if a corporation gives little permission to the workforce then work quality and productivity will be decreased. So the verification, permission, and access control should be balanced to avoid any compromising on productivity or safety.

IAM for Employee Productivity

Since safety is not the only concern of organizations, new security tools focus on productivity too. It is the same for IAM and the IAM recognizes the importance of employee success in a business.

Keeping the permission balance at an optimal level is not easy so companies should know where to ask for help. HR, can extensively observe employee data and use this information appropriately to enable corporations to stay safe. The general perception of IAM is that only IT specialists are responsible for security. But IAM does not only about technical and digital issues. IAM also needs employee management and HR knowledge to work efficiently.

Collaboration Between HR and IT

If IAM is used by the HR process simultaneously, IAM precautions can be taken when HR onboarding the employees. When HR determines the job descriptions and access level of the employees, IT managers can create accounts that fit the employee profiles and avoid over-access to the company resources. We wanted to state collaboration between HR and IT managers. Creating a secure environment is a shared responsibility of the management and the employees. Dealing with employees is not possible without the contribution of human resources and the human factor can not be denied in online security. So, if a corporation wants to construct a robust security wall, it should know how to combine HR and IT departments appropriately.

Last Words

Identity control and access verification to the resources are the most vital elements of online security when it comes to corporations. Among all the other security tools, IAM offers a great range of access, verification, and protection opportunities. The main idea of an IAM is that give limited access authorization to the resources and verify their identities safely. Moreover, IAM prompts the idea of identity control. Identity control avoid unauthorized users to reach company data or resources. In this way, corporations can protect their data from being stolen or disappearing.

Even if the IAM service looks like only a technical issue, it is connected with HR. Since HR is the very first place to allocate data from employees and knows about job descriptions, and access necessities more than any department, IAM should be integrated with the HR systems. This is how corporations provide a secure and productive work environment.

HR Future Staff Writer